College football viewer's guide: Here are all the new coaches, including UNC's Bill Belichick
Nearly every school in the Big Ten and SEC retained their coaches for the 2025 college football season, while there are just six new coaches at power conference schools overall.
There was, however, a fair amount of movement elsewhere in college football. Here's your quick guide to every school with a new coach this season.
ACC
Bill Belichick, North Carolina: We'll start with the most famous — and infamous — new coach in college football. The six-time Super Bowl winner was hired to replace Mack Brown as the Tar Heels' head coach. Belichick has brought North Carolina the attention it sought after it hired him … but not in ways UNC could have imagined. Belichick has been a major offseason storyline thanks to his personal and professional relationship with 24-year-old Jordon Hudson. Belichick has said Hudson is not involved with the UNC football program and all eyes will be on the Tar Heels' opener against TCU on Labor Day.
Jake Dickert, Wake Forest: The former Washington State coach headed east to replace Dave Clawson after Clawson stepped down after 11 seasons with the Demon Deacons. Dickert led Washington State through two seasons of turmoil as the Pac-12 dissolved and other schools left the Cougars in the dust. Wazzu went 8-4 in 2024 as it scrambled to piece together a schedule following the conference's demise.
Frank Reich, Stanford: The ex-Colts and Panthers coach will be one-and-done in Palo Alto. Reich was hired as the team's temporary coach when Stanford fired Troy Taylor after news broke of the school investigations into his treatment of staffers. Reich was brought in by former Stanford QB Andrew Luck, as the former No. 1 overall draft pick is now the GM of the Cardinal. Luck has a big task ahead of him as Stanford has gone 3-9 in each of the past four seasons.
American
Scott Abell, Rice: The Owls hired Abell from FCS-level Davidson. Over seven seasons, Abell's Wildcats went 47-28 and didn't have a losing season.
Tim Albin, Charlotte: Three straight seasons of 10 or more wins at Ohio led Albin to Charlotte, where he replaces Biff Poggi. Charlotte has big dreams in the AAC as it looks for just the second winning season in school history and its first bowl victory.
K.C. Keeler, Temple: The Pennsylvania native is tasked with turning the Temple football program around after a bunch of success at Sam Houston. Keeler's teams won at least 10 games six different times before Sam Houston moved to the top level of college football. The Bearkats were 3-9 in their debut season in 2023 before going 9-3 in 2024.
Zach Kittley, Florida Atlantic: The 33-year-old takes over at FAU for former Texas coach Tom Herman after leading the Texas Tech offense for the past three seasons. After working as a graduate assistant at Tech, Kittley led high-powered offenses at Houston Baptist and Western Kentucky with QB Bailey Zappe.
Tre Lamb, Tulsa: The former Tennessee Tech QB has been an FCS head coach for the past five seasons. Lamb's Gardner-Webb teams were 20-20 over four seasons and East Tennessee State went 7-5 in 2024.
Big Ten
Barry Odom, Purdue: Odom takes over for the man who worked for him as an assistant at Missouri. Purdue went just 1-11 in 2024 as the Boilermakers were the worst power conference team in the country. After a 25-25 record in four seasons at Mizzou, Odom was Arkansas' defensive coordinator before UNLV hired him ahead of the 2023 season. The Rebels went 19-8 over the past two years and were 12-3 in Mountain West play.
Big 12
Scott Frost, UCF: We'll see if a happier Frost can lead the Knights back to the success they had in his first tenure. UCF went 13-0 in 2017 and beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl. Frost left after that game to head back to Nebraska, where he was a quarterback during his college playing days. That stint famously didn't go well, as Nebraska failed to have a winning season and Frost was fired after a Week 3 loss to Georgia Southern in 2022.
Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia: It's a season of homecomings in the Big 12 as Rodriguez is back at the school that he brought to national relevance. Rodriguez's spread-option offense powered West Virginia to a 32-5 record from 2005-2007 and got him the Michigan job. The Wolverines were just 15-22 in three seasons before Rodriguez was fired and became Arizona's head coach in 2012. After parting ways with the Wildcats after the 2017 season. Rodriguez took over at Jacksonville State in 2022 and the Gamecocks won nine games in each of the past three seasons.
Conference USA
Charles Kelly, Jacksonville State: The longtime college football assistant has his first head coaching job as he tries to sustain the success JSU had under Rodriguez. Kelly was the co-defensive coordinator at Auburn in 2024 after he was Colorado's defensive coordinator in 2023. Prior to joining Deion Sanders' staff in Boulder, he was a defensive assistant at Alabama for four seasons. He's also coached at Tennessee, Florida State and Georgia Tech.
Phil Longo, Sam Houston: Longo is back at Sam Houston after he was the team's offensive coordinator from 2014-2016. Since then, he's been the coordinator at Ole Miss, North Carolina and at Wisconsin for the past two seasons.
Jerry Mack, Kennesaw State: Mack comes to Kennesaw State after a season as the Jacksonville Jaguars' running backs coach. He coached Tennessee's running backs for three seasons before going to Jacksonville and was the head coach at North Carolina Central from 2014-2017.
Willie Simmons, Florida International: Simmons was hired to replace former Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre at FIU. Simmons spent the 2024 season as the running backs coach at Duke after a six-year stint as Florida A&M's head coach. The Rattlers were 45-13 in his tenure.
MAC
Mark Carney, Kent State: Carney is the Golden Flashes' interim head coach following Kenni Burns' firing. Burns was fired in April after he was placed on administrative leave. Kent State never officially said why Burns was fired, but an independent investigation revealed Burns had taken over $100,000 in loans from a Kent State booster who was also a vendor for the school. Getting multiple wins in 2025 will be a big success for Carney. Kent State was 1-23 in Burns' two seasons.
Matt Drinkall, Central Michigan: The former Army offensive assistant was hired to replace Jim McElwain after McElwain retired. Drinkable had coached tight ends and the offensive line for Army since joining Jeff Monken's coaching staff in 2019.
Eddie George, Bowling Green: The Heisman winner and former Ohio State star was hired in March by the Falcons after Scot Loeffler took a job with the Philadelphia Eagles. George coached FCS-level Tennessee State for the past four seasons and had a career record of 24-22 with the school after a 9-4 campaign in 2024.
Joe Harasymiak, UMass: Harasymiak has been an assistant at the top level of college football after a three-year stint as Maine's head coach from 2016-2018. After three seasons at Minnesota, Harasymiak was the defensive coordinator at Rutgers for the last three years.
Brian Smith, Ohio: Smith was promoted to replace Albin after Albin left for Charlotte. Smith has worked at Hawaii and Washington State and was the Bobcats' assistant head coach and offensive coordinator in 2024 in his third season with the school.
Mike Uremovich, Ball State: Uremovich comes to Ball State from Butler, where the Bulldogs were 23-11 over the past three seasons. Before coaching at Butler, Uremovich was an assistant at Northern Illinois and Temple.
Mountain West
Jason Eck, New Mexico: Eck was the head coach at Idaho for the past three seasons. The Vandals were 26-13 in his time with the school and went 10-4 in 2024. Before heading to Idaho, Eck was the offensive line coach and offensive coordinator at FCS powerhouse South Dakota State for six seasons.
Matt Entz, Fresno State: The former North Dakota State coach parlayed a move to USC as an assistant into a head coaching job. After going 60-11 in five seasons at NDSU, Entz spent the last two seasons as a senior defensive assistant with the Trojans. He takes over for Jeff Tedford after Tedford was forced to step down because of health reasons.
Bronco Mendenhall, Utah State: Mendenhall is back in the state of Utah and the Mountain West after a year as New Mexico's head coach. He returned to coaching in 2024 after two years off following his departure from Virginia after the 2021 season. Before heading to Virginia, Mendenhall was the head coach at BYU from 2005-2015 and the Cougars had a 99-43 record.
Dan Mullen, UNLV: The former Florida and Mississippi State coach is back on the sidelines after working as a commentator for ESPN. Florida was 34-15 in Mullen's time from 2018-2021, but was 5-6 in 2021 before he was fired ahead of the last week of the season. Hiring Odom, another former SEC coach, worked out brilliantly for the Rebels. We'll see if the formula can be replicated with Mullen.
Pac-12
Jimmy Rogers, Washington State: Rogers moves up to the top level of college football after a national title with South Dakota State. The former SDSU linebacker was a defensive assistant with the Jackrabbits from 2013-2022 before taking over as the team's head coach in 2023. That season, SDSU went 15-0 on the way to the FCS title and was 12-3 in 2024 after losing in the semifinals.
Sun Belt
Tony Gibson, Marshall: Gibson needs to rebuild the Marshall roster after a player exodus following the departure of Charles Huff. Marshall opted out of the Independence Bowl at the end of the 2024 season because the team said it didn't have enough players to play Army. That resulted in a six-figure fine from the Sun Belt conference. Gibson is a longtime defensive assistant who was most recently at NC State. He's also coached at Michigan, Pittsburgh, Arizona and West Virginia.
Charles Huff, Southern Mississippi: Huff left Marshall after his contract expired. It was a unique situation; Huff's four-year contract wasn't extended after winning seasons in his first two years and the school didn't move to retain him despite a 10-4 season in 2024. Southern Miss was 1-11 in 2024 after going 3-9 in 2023.
Dowell Loggains, Appalachian State: The former South Carolina offensive coordinator parlayed the Gamecocks' successful season into his first college head coaching job. Loggains was at South Carolina for two seasons after he was Arkansas' tight ends coach in 2021 and 2022. Before that, he was an NFL assistant from 2008 through 2020 and worked for the Titans, Browns, Bears, Dolphins and Jets.
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Journey of Purdue football's former top-20 recruit goes full circle with loyalty: 'He still believed'
LAS VEGAS — Tony Grimes planned to show his Purdue football teammates a small glimpse of a true Vegas experience. The transfer from UNLV wanted to take Devin Mockobee and CJ Madden to his favorite dining spot, Nico's, inside the off-strip Durango Casino Resort. He would have shared his go-to order: Burger for an appetizer, lamb chops for the entrée. Flight delays ruined those plans. Instead, the trio grabbed some carryout Wahlburgers inside Mandalay Bay and headed back to their rooms after arriving Wednesday night. In its own way, that truly reflected Grimes' year with UNLV. 'When I came to Vegas last year, yeah, I was expecting it to be something crazy,' Grimes said. 'But about two weeks in, I was like, oh, it's Vegas. You can have fun on the strip, but I'm here for football.' Grimes returned to Vegas for football Thursday, in some ways bringing his career full circle. Well, more of a figure eight. Actually it most resembles a completely haphazard doodle — not unlike one his 18-month-old daughter, Gianna, might draw. At Big Ten media days he represented his fourth (and final) team and conference. Such is the modern story of college football. Grimes began his career a blue chip recruit, weaved his way across the country through adversity and followed Barry Odom to Purdue for one final challenge. After only six-plus months on campus, though, Grimes earned a media day distinction typically reserved for a team's best leaders. Mockobee said he saw it on Day 1, when the freshly arrived transfer's spontaneous 'Purdue on three' declaration broke down a team meeting. 'He talks what he lives, and with him being an older guy, people see that and ultimately just respect it,' said Madden, in his second season after transferring from Georgia. 'He's done a great job and he's going to do great things this fall.' When he left Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 2020, Grimes could not have expected to one day wear a gold Purdue pin on his black suit at Big Ten media days. He took the long route there, too, starting at … North Carolina: Odom, as Arkansas' defensive coordinator, recruited the five-star prospect. Grimes picked the Tar Heels, though, then reclassified and entered college a year early. He began starting as a freshman, started regularly as a sophomore and junior and earned honorable mention All-ACC honors along the way. The coaches who brought Grimes to Chapel Hill began to leave. He didn't mesh with some of their replacements. So he entered the transfer portal — when Odom first tried to land him — and signed with … Texas A&M: The Aggies needed defensive back help, and Grimes was considered a big boost for a program which never quite reaches its lofty expectations. However, two weeks into preseason camp, went down with an MCL injury and knee tendinitis. He never played a snap for A&M. Grimes said he became too easily influenced by a group of teammates who 'didn't want it bad enough.' His time in College Station became a frustrating yet enlightening period. At this juncture, he stopped chasing those five-star expectations. Texas A&M fired Jimbo Fisher after the season, and Grimes looked elsewhere. He stayed in the Power Four by committing to … Michigan State: That's right — technically, Purdue is not Grimes' first Big Ten affiliation. Not every transfer goes smoothly, though. Grimes' credits transfer from A&M to East Lansing hit a snag. He would not be able to join the Spartans until the end of the summer. Grimes did not believe he could afford to miss spring football. So he decommitted and reconnected with a familiar face in a new place, called … UNLV: Odom's third attempt to reel in Grimes paid off. He started 13 games and recorded 20 tackles and six pass breakups. The Rebels won 11 games for the first time since 1984 and cracked the AP top 25 rankings for the first time in their 46-year history. Grimes completed his degree in communications and media studies. He could have stayed in Vegas for another year. Could have kept ordering those burger-lamb chop combos at Nico's. Instead, he felt a sense of loyalty to Odom. 'He saw something in me a lot of coaches didn't see in me,' Grimes said. 'He still believed I can be this top player in the country one day. He brought me in, and our journeys keep going.' That single honorable mention All-ACC selection remains the only conference recognition of Grimes' career. Odom, though, sees flashes of what made Grimes a top-20 national recruit more than half a decade ago. He said Grimes is in the best shape of his career and playing his best football right now. 'I think he's an NFL player,' Odom said. 'I think he's got the physical measurables to align with that. He's become a student of the game. He understands that part of that now. I think he's just scratching the surface of what he can be.' In keeping with Purdue's insistence on thinking bigger than expectations, though, Grimes set his goals higher than the Stratosphere towering over the north end of the strip. 'I have to be the top corner in the draft this year,' Grimes said. Come again? 'Yes, I will be,' Grimes said. His reasoning? He will play against great competition throughout the season. Ohio State, USC, Washington — the modern Big Ten features no shortage of receivers who can make a defensive back look fantastic or foolish. His motivation? He wants to help Purdue win immediately, and he wants to build momentum for recruiting the cornerbacks who will succeed him. Yet he's also no longer playing merely for pride and competition. He met Guadalupe Avalos-Castro when she was a pre-med student at North Carolina. She and Gianna will be with him in West Lafayette at he takes graduate school classes and closes his college football career. Grimes has already penned an epic script with this coast-to-coast journey. He's also an aspiring film maker who has been working on a screen play since his time with the Tar Heels. He declined to divulge the subject. 'I can't get into too much stuff, but it's gonna be good,' Grimes said. 'It's gonna be real good.' If Grimes' Purdue season goes as planned, they'll be calling it, 'Worth the wait.'
